Abdul Wahab Tours is a family run business of six brothers specializing in the Xinjiang region.

I chose them for three main reasons.

1. Excellent English. I was messaging many companies that had poor english with grammatical errors. This can lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretations, especially when such large sums of money are involved and planning your perfect trip. The contacts at Abdul Wahab always spoke perfect english in their communications and there were no understanding errors.

Abdul Wahab and his Brother Paty on left
They are educated in Xian English Schools were they met some of their other tour guides. They also speak fluent French and German and can handle groups in those languages.

2. Price. Other tour companies were quoting me $2500-$3500. Abdul Wahabs base price was $1050 and with all my changes final price $1200. This is much more affordable in my price range since air travel to Xinjiang is too costly and more than the cost of the tour itself. Other companies are basically gouging westerners since the cost of living is so low in China and $3000+ is not really what the actual costs are.

3. Approved by Lonely Planet, New York Times, Financial Times. This is very important for westerners when choosing a foreign travel agency and to send such large sums of money. It is odd that even with these endorsements, he is not charging the ridiculous $3000+ prices that others are charging who have no such endorsements?

Driver Timur and Turpan Guide Mohammad
A fourth reason I chose was the name "Abdul Wahab". Both names are common across India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. This tells me he is a local muslim. I later found out this is a family run business of six brothers and they are local Uyghar Muslims.

This gives them a personal knowledge of the culture, history, and society. They also had many local contacts in many of the places we visited as these are people and places they have known all their lives.

The biggest factor in visiting Xinjiang is airfare cost. One suggestion to bring more tourists is they have to open Kashgar Airport up to more international flights. Presently the only destination is Urumqi airport, the capital city of Xinjiang. From there you have to transfer to a Beijing flight. Then at Beijing your international flight. This adds too many steps, time, and cost, in trying to reach Xinjiang.

Kashgar is closer to the capitals of Delhi, Islamabad, Bishkek, and Tashkent. If there were more regional routes this would give foreigners more travel options, lower prices, and reduced time in trying to reach Xinjiang.


Arrival Urumqi Airport
For example, I am planning my trip next year to Uzbekistan. There are three airlines that fly direct from Seoul to Tashkent. This creates competition and lower prices. Even though Tashkent is further than Kashgar, I can get a Tashkent flight for $700 return whereas the Kashgar flight cost me $1600 with all the stops and changes, and nearly a whole day.

Another suggestion I learnt was not to book internal flights on Expedia. Again, they are overcharging at western prices what the internal flights are actually selling for. I paid $250 on expedia for my Urumqi to Kashgar flight whereas locally it is selling for $120. Try looking for locals flights on China's english website CTrip (http://english.ctrip.com)

Xinjiang was a beautiful and fascinating place. I'm glad I visited despite the cost and would love to go again. If you are interested in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, but do not feel it is comfortable or safe to travel there, the next best alternative is Xinjiang, which is very safe to visit and walk around alone. Their music, food, culture, architecture, geography, and history is so similar you wont be dissapointed.

Abdul Wahab has a website at : http://oldroadtours.com/

and a facebook page at : https://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pa ges/Abdul-Wahab-Tours/123271651043024?s k=info

Map of Xinjiang

I would definately recommend booking and travelling with them again for the great personal service they provided. I felt more like a family member than a paying guest.

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